


Coffee and Magic

by anaturalintrovert



Series: Ni No Kuni Fics [1]
Category: Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Maybe spoilers?, Platonic Relationships, Short One Shot, This Is My First Time Using AO3, idk what to tell you other than the party get close to robbing a coffee shop, im doing my best, im sorry if my tagging is bad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:46:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26156737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anaturalintrovert/pseuds/anaturalintrovert
Summary: Coffee from the magical world replenishes magic. Coffee from Oliver’s world should work just as well, right?
Series: Ni No Kuni Fics [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1899427
Comments: 11
Kudos: 28





	Coffee and Magic

"Here it goes!"

Oliver hadn't quite got his sea legs yet, so setting sail on the mighty Sea Cow - sorry, the "Floatsy-Woasty" as the Cowlipha had so eloquently put it - was hardly an easy feat.

It had been a mistake on Oliver's behalf to assume that there wouldn't be Beasties out on the sea. He would have stocked up on supplies in hindsight. More treats for the team's familiars, more sandwiches, and wayyy more strong coffees. However, they'd long since set sail and it was going to be quicker to reach Autumnia than to turn back to Castaway Cove. So the four of them - himself, Drippy, Esther and the newcomer Swaine - were fighting off Beasties with what they had on hand.

Fighting on a boat is difficult. Again, the team hadn't anticipated battling, so they hadn't mentally prepared themselves for the difficulty. It wasn't even unbearably rocky, it was surprisingly calm in fact, but it was difficult to anticipate where the boat would be beneath their feet. This lead to an inconvenient amount of stumbling. And falling. And getting hit.

Swaine was sticking to his pistol, Esther was focussing her attention on her harp, and Oliver was desperately trying to strike down the enemies with the few spells he knew. Their familiars were all either tuckered out or sick of not getting enough treats and refusing to fight out of spite. The team barely threw the attackers overboard before they could already see another group of Beasties swimming towards them.

"Oh, for God's sake," Swaine muttered. Then, louder, he asked, "Are we going to keep doing this or are we going to stop off to find provisions?"

"Yeah, one of those islands must have some ingredients Al Khemi can use or something!" Esther insisted.

"If those two of all people are agreein' I'd say it's worth checking out, eh, Ollie-boy?" Drippy was perched on Oliver's shoulder, only hopping off to the sidelines whenever a battle started (because any and all Beasties could punt a fairy overboard effortlessly).

Oliver shook his head. "You heard what Captain Sindbah said, it's best that we keep moving."

"Well surely we can do something? Maybe ask a crew member if they have a bread roll on them or something?" Esther suggested hopefully.

"It's the magic that's a problem, really," Oliver said, "We just don't have enough to keep us all active. And since our familiars are all being difficult..." He cast a slightly disappointed glance at Gogo, who was tugging on Esther's hand with its beak and whining for a treat. "...we really need to use our magic. I'm completely out."

"Well we need to figure this out quickly. We have company." Drippy pointed at the end of the boat where another group of enemies were clambering up.

"I have an idea," Swaine announced. "We take one more of these battles and then you cast... uh... that one spell that lets you travel worlds."

"Gateway?"

"Gateway!"

"We only have a few iced coffees left!" Esther bumped Swaine in the arm with her fist. "Suggest something that isn't totally stupid— Duck!"

A shot of salt water soared right above the team's head as they hit deck. The boat rocked beneath them and they were all pressed against the planks, yet Swaine still found the time to look smug. "Got a better plan?"

"I hate you. You're a bad person." It was hard to tell how serious Esther was being. Then again, the guy had almost swindled them out of a ticket to save the world because he couldn't help himself, but being heartbroken was tough and Esther most likely empathised with that to at least a certain extent.

Oliver clambered to his feet and got his familiar out to at least try to fight, despite exhaustion. "We can do this!"

They were grasping at straws when it came to winning the battle, and winning was an overstatement. The lot of them were huffing and puffing and on less than twenty HP. Swaine had come close to blatantly passing out, which would have been unfortunate because he hadn't explained the plan further than casting Gateway and heading to Motorville. Drippy had clutched the battle from defeat by performing Tidy Tears, and the second the last familiar scrambled overboard, Oliver took out his wand and cast Gateway.

The four of them collapsed in the middle of the road and had to throw themselves onto the pavement to avoid getting hit by a car. "Can't even stay safe in this world, let alone ouer own. No wonder Ollie-boy was such a cry baby bunting."

"I'm not—"

"So what was this plan exactly? It better involve a good rest because I'm this close to passing out," Esther huffed. The group was still on the ground, on the pavement by Leila's shop, Esther having her arms crossed.

Swaine stood and dusted himself off, "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realise how hard it was to be close to be passing out. I didn't realise how hard it was to be low on health and to be stuck using Mugshots and nothing else to defeat three enemies."

"Guys, we have things to do. What did you have in mind, Swaine?" The four of them were on their feet again, albeit unaccustomed to solid ground after sailing for a few days straight, and Oliver checked to see if people were walking about. A few were, but they were all generally keeping to themselves. They seemed to be safe to speak, unless Leila or Myrtle or Phillip showed up out of the blue.

"The main problem is that we're basically out of magic and have no provisions." Swaine was surprisingly well-spoken. It almost sounded like a business pitch. It was almost impressing, and it made Oliver wonder what made the man turn to a life of crime. "And coffee restores magic."

"Yeah, that's all true. So?" Oliver pushed.

"Please tell us you have coffee in your world, and that it isn't some sort of exclusive thing to our world."

"Are you serious right now?" Esther demanded. "You brought us here without knowing if we can even find provisions here?!"

"We have coffee, we have coffee, don't worry. There's a café right around the corner, actually."

"What the flippin' heck are you lot on about? You think the coffee from Ollie-boy's world is goin' ta work in restoring magic?!" Drippy hopped onto Oliver's shoulder and started shouting in his ear, much to Oliver's protest. "It's magic, 'ent it? There's a reason most people in this here world can't use it, and one of those reasons is because the people in this world have no provisions!"

"Please stop yelling..." Oliver begged as Drippy hopped down from the wizard's shoulder. He turned the corner and saw many more people. Communication was about to get a lot more complicated. He ducked around the side of a building before he could turn the corner fully. "What's the plan?"

"Do you have your world's money on you?" Swaine asked. He was also hiding around the corner and was very confused as to why Esther and Drippy were walking around like no-one could see them or something. "Aren't you going to at least try to be discreet? I mean the way we're dressed clearly gives away that we're not from this world, not to mention the literal fairy walking with us!"

"The people from this world can't see us, you big baby. Come on." Esther basically dragged Swaine by the collar into the middle of the pavement, much to his obvious discomfort. A dog started barking aggressively at Drippy to which he laughed in its face.

Oliver fished around in his bottomless bag to see if any of his world's money had gotten stowed away accidentally. Huh, a twenty dollar bill and some stray change, nice. "I've got money, so am I meant to walk in and ask for twenty strong coffees?" It wasn't said sarcastically, in fact Oliver genuinely wanted to know how to go about ordering twenty coffees as a twelve-year-old boy in a cape.

"Just ask. We'll come with you. And if in doubt—"

"Swaine, don't even touch your pistol," Esther warned.

"We'll be here for moral support." His hand had been moving towards his pickpocket pistol, though. "And I won't use the pistol, I won't nick anything with my pistol, thief's honour."

"You're insufferable," She sighed.

The café was pretty big, with tables outside under a striped material awning and large glass windows revealing more tables indoors with a kitchen further in the shop. Not many people were sat inside - it was a nice day, so most people were relaxing and chatting outdoors - so that would make things easier. The sign above the shop simply read "Tea and Coffee", and was frequented by some of the kids at Oliver's school. He and Phil never went there - their classmates would sometimes spill their drinks over them or slyly comment on them and laugh. Oliver pushed through the large double doors into the café regardless. Just get the magic and leave.

One guy was staffing the ordering counter, a man with slightly frizzy long hair tied back into a low ponytail, dark sunken eyes, and clearly run down by a dead end job. He seemed slightly more energetic when talking to Oliver, probably to get a tip. "Hi, what can I get you?"

"Coffee," Oliver blurted out before any of his party could even get a word in edgewise. He slammed the twenty dollar bill on the counter. "Twenty strong coffees. Do you have iced coffees?"

The man looked at the money, then the child in the cape, then the money, then the child in the cape again. "Okay?" He seemed to mentally step back and asked, "Wait, just so that we're on the same page, you want twenty strong coffees? And want iced coffees on top of that?"

Oliver looked over his shoulder to his party. Drippy made a motion for Oliver to keep going. Oliver turned back to the man - his name tag was almost illegible so he couldn't know the man's name - and went on with, "Make it thirty strong coffees. And ten iced coffees. And ten cappuccinos?"

"You know that that'll take you well over two hundred dollars, right?"

"Can we settle for ten strong coffees?"

"Is this a prank?"

Swaine covered his mouth in secondhand shame and embarrassment. "Of all the people to be visible in this situation, why Oliver?"

"Don't bully him! He's doing his best!" Esther bumped him in the arm with her fist again. A bruise was bound to emerge, and he was already low enough on health as is, they all were. Better stock up on sandwiches while they were here.

"And he's making a right show of it, 'ent it? Pooer dab."

"It isn't a prank!" Oliver insisted, trying to block out the voices of his friends. "I just have to make a coffee run. You know how it is."

"I really don't... but honestly, this is just funny, and I can't help myself. So long as you pay me and leave a tip, I'll get you your ten strong coffees, you... strange child." He didn't turn around immediately, he kept looking at Oliver and stepped back, clearly trying to keep the boy in the corner of his eye throughout. He flinched and touched his temple. "Damn it, if I get one more migraine today..." he trailed off into disgruntled muttering as he brewed the coffee.

Swaine winced and grabbed his head too. "Bloody hell..."

Esther alternated between looking at the café worker and Swaine. It struck her like a bullet. "Oooooh! I see what's going on here!"

"Shut up, I have a headache."

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Drippy nudged Esther's ankle, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder towards the café worker.

"I don't like what you lot are implying." Swaine shook his head. "Oi, Oliver, hurry up so we can get some sandwiches while we're here!"

"I can't, I don't have enough money." Oliver objected a bit louder than he'd intended.

"No, twenty dollars should cover you." The café worker said. He hadn't put the coffee in to go cups, but in mugs with a saucer and everything. They looked identical to the ones he used to replenish magic. It should work, and then he could cast Healing Touch a bunch of times and cast Gateway and get on with finding Alicia. Avenging Alicia if nothing else. At this rate...

"Oliver, ask the man for his name!" Esther suggested, to which Swaine nudged her in protest.

"Don't," he warned.

"Thank you... I never caught your name." We need to hurry up.

Cue audible face palm from Swaine.

The man looked strikingly similar to him. Swaine could see the resemblance but was deeply in denial. It looked like a cross between his current self and his older self, Gascon, the one he'd abandoned in the name of growing as a person. Had his soulmate done the same? God, the thought made his stomach turn. Neither of them had grown. Once Swaine helped the group out in finding Marcissan, they'd run off with his much superior brother and he could go away back to whatever he was before. Maybe his soulmate would get a similar calling, away from his dull life. They'd both feel rejection, then. He didn't want a connection with this man because then whenever something went wrong in his life - and things did go wrong in his life - he would feel guilty, like he was dragging this man down.

"My name? Benjamin."

"Benjamin and Swaine, eh?" Drippy hopped onto the counter and got a closer look at the man. He almost knocked over a coffee mug. "Wonder what happened to this man when he lost his restraint...?"

"Cut it out already," Swaine insisted, "Just pay and leave."

Oliver took the coffees and instinctively put them in his bottomless bag. Mugs and all. Benjamin looked like he was going to object but ended up just standing flabbergasted as the last mug was dumped into the bag. "I—"

"Cast Gateway," Swaine instructed, clearly sick of this.

Oliver took out what Benjamin saw as a stick, waved it in an arc and drew a line down the centre. Benjamin blinked and Oliver - as well as his invisible party - was gone. He rubbed his eyes and pocketed the twenty dollar bill as opposed to putting it in the cash register.

————————

"Please say this works."

Oliver had been putting off drinking the strong coffees on purpose. Of course, that didn't last long, because the Beasties were getting more and more aggressive and the familiars were still exhausted. They didn't pick up sandwiches because Benjamin's judgemental nature had forced the lot of them to flee back to the magical world, so the party just got the coffee. If this didn't work they wouldn't be able to cast Healing Touch and they'd surely pass out.

Oliver took a strong coffee and drank it as fast as he could. Esther and Swaine were busy bickering over soulmates on the battlefield so they initially didn't see the change.

Oliver couldn't hold his wand still and was still out of magic. He was trying to stay stood up, now shaking on an already unsteady boat. "Help?"

"Oliver, we're stopping off at an island, I don't care what you say," Esther insisted.

"Yeah. Good call.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time posting on AO3 so I’m still figuring things out. This is bordering on being a crackfic, but I think it's mostly just a non-serious fic. I love thinking about what the party does between major plot points. This idea has been stuck in the back of my mind for a while now so here goes nothing. Hope you enjoyed!


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